California Air Resources Board

Would have formally expanded the California Department of Recycling and Resource Recovery’s (CalRecycle’s) California Climate Investments Food Waste Prevention grant program to provide financial assistance for the recovery of edible food, as specified. The bill also would have specified that eligible infrastructure projects included the construction or expansion of facilities to help develop, implement, or expand edible food waste recovery operation and required CalRecycle to consider the increased amount of edible food recovery capacity that the project will create when awarding a grant for edible food recovery. Held on suspense in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

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Eliminates the continuous appropriation of 25% of the annual proceeds of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) to the High-Speed Rail Authority on June 30, 2026, and beginning with the 2026–27 fiscal year, and until December 31, 2030, requires 25% of the annual proceeds of the GGRF to be transferred to the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account (MVFA). Beginning July 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2031, the bill reduces the rate of the tax imposed upon each gallon of fuel by a specified percentage based annually on the amount transferred to the MVFA from the GGRF. Failed passage in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee and was granted reconsideration.

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Would have requiredCARB, on or before January 1, 2028, to publish on its website an assessment of the life-cycle emissions from alternative uses of forest and agricultural biomass residues. The bill also would have required CARB, on or before January 1, 2028, to complete a comprehensive strategy to support beneficial carbon removal products generated from agricultural or forest biomass resources, including, but not limited to, biochar, as specified. This bill also would have required the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to require, as feasible, for State-funded forest health projects, a disposal plan describing how much biomass residue should be physically removed versus burned by prescribed burn. The bill also would have required the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to investigate the use of biomass fuel made from biomass residues, as specified.

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Governor’s Veto Message:

To the Members of the California State Senate:

I am returning Senate Bill 88 without my signature.

This bill would require the California Air Resources Board to develop specified methods and protocols to quantify the avoided emissions and beneficial uses of forest and agricultural biomass. This bill also would direct the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to require forest health projects to include a resource disposal component, and the California Energy Commission to include biomass-derived low- and negative-carbon fuels in certain reports.

Throughout my Administration, I have been supportive of advancing methods and practices to sustainably address the growing amount of woody biomass waste in the state, primarily due to the risk it presents of exacerbating catastrophic wildfires. This is why my Administration, for years, has recommended and acted on strategies to address this challenge and risk.

While I applaud the authors' desire to further this work, most of the requirements in this bill are duplicative of existing efforts. At the same time, other provisions would trigger new and substantial costs at each of the affected agencies not accounted for in the 2025 Budget Act. In partnership with the Legislature this year, my Administration has enacted a balanced budget that recognizes the challenging fiscal landscape our state faces while maintaining our commitment to working families and our most vulnerable communities. With significant fiscal pressures and the federal government's hostile economic policies, it is vital that we remain disciplined when considering bills with significant fiscal implications that are not included in the budget, such as this measure.

For these reasons, I cannot sign this bill.

Sincerely,

Gavin Newsom

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Exempts an agricultural crop preparation service (ACPS) from the Department of Recycling and Resource Recovery’s (CalRecycle) regulations for the Edible Food Rescue Program for Commercial Edible Food Generators (CCR Tit.14, Div. 7, Chap. 12, Art. 10) promulgated under the Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Strategy if the ACPS demonstrates to CalRecycle, in a form and manner developed by CalRecycle, that it has not disposed of organic waste in a landfill on or after January 1, 2016.

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Requires the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) to oversee a sustainable agriculture program to provide research, technical assistance, and incentive grants to promote agricultural practices that support climate resilience for farms and ranches and the well-being of ecosystems, air quality, and biodiversity. The bill also renames the Scientific Advisory Panel on Environmental Farming to the Scientific Advisory Panel on Resilient and Sustainable Agriculture (Panel) for the purpose of providing advice to the CDFA Secretary on the implementation of research, incentive, and technical assistance grant programs for sustainable agriculture. This bill also expands the Panel from nine members to eleven members to add members of the public that represent scientific expertise in sustainable agriculture and members of state agencies that represent expertise in programs and policies related to agriculture.

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Requires the  Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) to develop strategies to reduce barriers and increase support for stewardship of conserved lands and collaborate with stakeholders, California Native American tribes, and relevant state agencies to prepare a section on stewardship as part of the 2027 annual report on progress made toward achieving the 30x30 goal, which the bill requires to include, among other things, recommendations to increase and improve stewardship of 30x30 lands, including innovative ways to reduce barriers and increase federal, state, and local support for stewardship, as specified. The bill would require the update to be posted on the agency’s internet website. 

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Adds a definition for "certified reclaimed refrigerant" in California statute to clarify the previous reference to the United States Environmental Protection Agency definition of “reclaim” in Section 84.3 of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Under the new definition, “certified reclaimed refrigerant” means recovered refrigerant that meets four specific criteria based on CARB's Hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) regulation, which includes that it is reclaimed, has been analyzed to meet specifications, and is documented by a certified reclaimer to contain no more that 15% new refrigerant. The bill also delays the prohibition on new HFCs used exclusively for very low temperature refrigeration or cooling until 2028, as specified.

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Allows a local jurisdiction to count organic material used as a beneficial agricultural amendment towards its recovered organic waste procurement target under SB 1383 (Lara, Chapter 395, Statutes of 2016) if the material is processed at a facility authorized by the Department of Recycling and Resource Recovery using approved technologies and if the beneficial agricultural amendment is licensed for end use as an agricultural fertilizer by the Department of Food and Agriculture. Was not heard in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.

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Would have stated the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would require the State to consider any potential cost burden to Californians as it works on achieving its climate goals, including its greenhouse gas emissions goals and standards under AB 32. The bill was amended to deal with farm workers.

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Requires the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) to conduct a study on the costs of climate change to the State and requires responsible parties with greenhouse gas emissions greater than 1 billion metric tons globally from 1990 to 2024 to pay a cost recovery demand proportionate to their share of emissions compared to total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Authorizes responsible parties to pay the cost recovery demand in 20 annual installments, with the first installment equaling 10 percent of the cost recovery demand. Creates the Polluters Pay Climate Fund and continuously appropriates the funding generated by the cost recovery demands to the Fund for projects that avoid, mitigate, repair, or adapt to negative climate change impacts, with a minimum of 40 percent of funded projects benefitting environmental justice populations. Was not heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee at the request of the author.

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